Quinn under intense fire for 11th hour moves
Thursday, Jan 15, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Some of former Gov. Pat Quinn’s last-minute clemency decisions are raising hackles…
Ten years ago next month, Howard Morgan, a railroad cop and former Chicago police officer, was stopped driving the wrong way on a one-way street. Morgan and the four arresting officers had words, then gunfire. Three of the officers were wounded.
Morgan was shot 28 times, but survived. He was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to 40 years, essentially a life sentence. […]
Morgan’s family and supporters have argued for years that he was the victim of overly aggressive cops and overzealous prosecutors, but his release has infuriated State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez who contends the executive clemency process is without any explanation or consideration.
She calls it a “…last minute secretive maneuver that puts the rights of victims of crime and their families at the bottom of his list of priorities.”
Fraternal Order of Police President Dean Angelo also condemning the decision as
“…an 11th hour decision that’s a slap to the faces of the officers wounded that night.”
* And…
[Tyrone Hood], 51, was found guilty in the death of Illinois Institute of Technology basketball standout Marshall Morgan Jr. and was sentenced to a half century in prison. But Hood has insisted through the University of Chicago’s Exoneration Project that evidence pointed to someone else. Cook County prosecutors have re-examined the case.
[Anthony Dansberry], 52, had been serving a 60-year sentence for murder and a 15-year term for robbery in connection with the death of a 77-year-old woman. Attorneys have argued on Dansberry’s behalf that he couldn’t read and was coerced into signing a confession. […]
Alvarez, through spokeswoman Sally Daly on Monday, called the clemency process a “secretive maneuver that puts the rights of victims of crime and their families at the bottom of the list of priorities.”
On Wednesday, Daly told the AP that Quinn didn’t allow for “substantive hearings” in which prosecutors and victims’ families could weigh in. Prosecutors, Daly added, were left “without any explanation or justification as to why the defendants were selected to have their sentences commuted.”
* And more…
The state’s attorney in southwestern Illinois’ Madison County, Tom Gibbons, considers it “appalling” that Quinn cutting in half the prison term of a woman who fatally set her husband on fire.
Quinn offered no explanation for reducing Tammy Englerth’s 40-year prison sentence for the 2005 death of 30-year-old Christopher Englerth. She’s now eligible for parole in 2025, rather than in 2045 as first projected.
Her clemency petition says she was chronically abused while married.
* More…
Champaign County State’s Attorney Julie Rietz expressed dismay over Quinn’s decision on [former University of Illinois student Joseph Kupiec], saying she is “offended by it.” […]
What is most striking is how little the facts mattered in Quinn’s review. There is a complete disconnect between Kupiec’s version of events and court records, something easily discovered had the normal review process occurred. […]
“We haven’t even done our hearings on this case. (Gov. Quinn) didn’t even wait for us to make our recommendations,” said Kenneth Tupy, counsel for the Illinois Prisoner Review Board. […]
(T)he victim said Kupiec’s account is “just not accurate at all.”
* And then there’s this one…
Aaron Ammons, a former drug user with a felony conviction who went on to become a community activist and help run his wife’s successful [Illinois House[ political campaign, received a pardon and expungement of his criminal record this week. […]
With a pardon and expungement, Ammons is now clear to do things he could not have done before, from coaching basketball to serving on city council.
Carol Ammons resigned from her seat on the council on Friday, and Aaron Ammons said he plans to apply for his wife’s seat.
He filed the paperwork for the pardon on Jan. 2. On Monday, aware that was the last day it could happen, Ammons was “on pins and needles.” He was notified of the news Monday by The News-Gazette, which obtained a list of Quinn’s last-minute pardons.
* Columnist Jim Dey thinks that ten-day process was overtly political…
In granting a political favor to the husband of a fellow Democratic officeholder, Quinn short-circuited the traditional review process that includes a hearing and a formal recommendation by the Illinois Prisoner Review Board.
The full clemency list is here.
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Question of the day
Thursday, Jan 15, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* SJ-R…
Gov. Bruce Rauner used a Bible with a historical connection to Springfield on Monday when he was sworn in as governor.
Rauner used a Bible supplied by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency that had belonged to Springfield heiress and philanthropist Susan Lawrence Dana, who commissioned architect Frank Lloyd Wright to design and build her home — what is now the Dana-Thomas House State Historic Site.
* And speaking of that Bible, from the twitters…
Heh.
* That snarky Twitter account was on fire the day Rauner was sworn in. Many of the tweets are unprintable for this site, but here are a few from just before and immediately after Rauner took office…
* OK, let’s get back to the right hand on the Bible thing. Check out this photo taken during Rauner’s practice session…
Both Rauner and the judge are holding up their left hands, just like they did on Inauguration Day.
* The Question: Is this some sort of plot? Explain.
Snark is obviously encouraged.
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* From a press release…
Governor Bruce Rauner signed Executive Order 15-10 today to increase government transparency.
Under Executive Order 15-10, Rutan-exempt employees will be published on the Illinois Transparency and Accountability Portal (ITAP) website, finally giving the people of Illinois a way to easily find the state’s political hires.
“The IDOT hiring scandal proved the public deserves a way to easily find out who are all the political appointees in state government.” Gov. Rauner said. “We need to restore faith in state government if we expect the people of Illinois to help the government in its mission. This Executive Order is a first step towards earning back the people’s trust.”
The Executive Order also instructs the Illinois Department of Central Management Services (CMS) to assist units of local government in providing information about their employees for posting on the ITAP website.
“Taxpayers at every level of government deserve to know more about how their money is being spent,” Gov. Rauner added. “The action we are taking today will help build a more open and accountable government.”
The full EO is here.
* Rauner also had a few other things to say today…
* “Since the election, my primary focus has been recruiting. Recruiting the most talented team we can possibly have.”
* Asked whether he’ll undo Quinn’s executive order mandating that state contractors pay workers at least $10 an hour: “I won’t comment on specific things. My bias is to take action to undo pretty much everything that Gov. Quinn did since the election since every time we look most of it’s bad.”
* “There’s so much to do, there is so much to do.”
* Communication with legislative leaders by previous governor was, “Lacking or frigid.”
* “People who disagree don’t have to be disrespectful to each other… We can still like each other and respect each other even when we’re cracking each others’ heads…”
* “The bureaucracy in Illinois has run amok, and I’m going to change that.”
* On that $20 million campaign fund: “All that is is a way for me to get involved in the process going forward… There’s an ongoing campaign every day… around reform… We’ve got to get our message to the voters… There’s going to be an ongoing process, every month. It’s not just two years until the next election. It’s a process to communicate with people in this state so they understand what’s going on.”
* Raw audio…
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Rauner to keep med-mar coordinator in place
Thursday, Jan 15, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* There are most certainly bumps ahead, but this is important…
The state’s medical marijuana czar is staying put as the new governor issues pink slips to some state employees.
Bob Morgan, a lawyer and the coordinator of the Illinois Medical Cannabis Pilot Program, is “staying aboard for now,” said Gov. Bruce Rauner’s spokesman, Lance Trover.
The news was welcomed by some worried that Morgan would be immediately fired by the Republican Rauner, as he cleans house. The program has already suffered setbacks and delays because former Gov. Pat Quinn did not issue the business licenses needed to get the program going.
“It’s an excellent choice by Gov. Rauner,” said Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie), who sponsored the medical marijuana legislation. “I’m proud that he did that.”
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Shields up!
Thursday, Jan 15, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From a January 12th Daily Herald story…
Both Sanguinetti and Rauner greeted well-wishers at Illinois’ Old State Capitol Monday. Sanguinetti said there she is not answering any questions at this time, but will “very soon.”
* Assistant managing editor Jim Slusher takes gentle exception today…
As a Wheaton resident, Sanguinetti holds special interest for us at the Daily Herald. She’s a local product, now a heartbeat — or, perhaps taking the less-often-considered Pat Quinn route, one felony conviction away — from becoming the chief executive of the state. We’ve wanted to ask her a few questions since she and her boss Bruce Rauner won the election last November but we’ve been repeatedly left to place our hope in that phrase “very soon.”
We can live with that. She is the lieutenant governor, after all, and the Pat Quinn experience notwithstanding, the likelihood is not strong that she will soon become a household name outside of the West and Northwest suburbs. We’re confident that soon enough she’ll sit down with reporters from her hometown newspaper to discuss what it’s like to make the transition from local city councilwoman to the center of political power in the state and perhaps provide some insights into how she’ll shape an office that has few official duties. […]
So far, during the campaign and in the weeks since it ended, the Rauner reputation has become one of fierce control, though it’s important to point out that the governor and his staff are still at the very early stages of a long transition and have made some obvious attempts to cooperate with us pesky journalists.
But is so much control a good strategy? Time will tell. Pundits are quick to point out that too much of it can lead people to wonder what a politician really has to offer — or what he or she may be hiding. Perhaps sometime “very soon,” we’ll see more detail inside a camp that so far has been very cloistered and realize our worries and speculations were unfounded. For now, we’ll count on that.
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Duckworth to be honored today
Thursday, Jan 15, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Yet another landmine placed by former Gov. Pat Quinn…
*** MEDIA ADVISORY ***
Representative Duckworth, US Army Iraq Veteran To Receive the Abraham Lincoln Veteran Champion Award
Tammy Duckworth epitomizes the veteran who returns from military service and becomes a great asset to her fellow veterans, community, and country. She is an Iraq War Veteran, former IDVA Director, former Assistant Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and currently represents the Illinois 8th District in Congress. In 2004, Duckworth deployed to Iraq as a Blackhawk helicopter pilot for the Illinois Army National Guard and was one of the first Army women to fly combat missions during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Her helicopter was hit by hostile fire on Nov. 12, 2004, and Duckworth lost her legs and partial use of her right arm as result. She was awarded a Purple Heart for her combat injuries, and also earned the Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Armed Forces Reserve Medal with M Device, Army Service Ribbon, Army Reserve Component Overseas Training Ribbon, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Expert Marksmanship Badge (Pistol and Rifle Bars), and the Army Aviator Badge. She is active in her community, in volunteer service, and recently retired from the National Guard. She and her family reside in Hoffman Estates.
The Abraham Lincoln Veteran Champion Award (ALVCA) highlights and honors Illinois veterans whose contributions in service to the veteran community and their local communities are truly above and beyond. Nominees are evaluated on the basis of their leadership, dedication, innovation, and impact in serving these communities. ALVCA recipients are those whose efforts add to the powerful narrative that veterans are dedicated, lifelong public servants from whose efforts all of Illinois’ communities stand to benefit. In contributing to this narrative through their service to veteran and local communities, the ALVCA recipients not only impact the lives of those they serve, but also the overall advocacy effort for Illinois veterans. She was nominated in early 2014 by Theresa Mah, former advisor to then-Governor Pat Quinn, for the award.
IDVA Interim Director Harry F. Sawyer will present the award on behalf of Governor Bruce Rauner, which includes a framed proclamation as well as a State Flag.
Um, huh?
Duckworth has been mentioned repeatedly as a possible Democratic opponent for US Sen. Mark Kirk, who probably won’t be happy about this.
But since it was already a done deal, the Rauner folks couldn’t stop it without looking like jerks, so they went ahead.
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Legislative inauguration tidbits
Thursday, Jan 15, 2015 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tribune…
Noting recent budgets have been approved with only Democratic votes, Madigan pointedly said to GOP members that House Democrats “wish to welcome you back — back to the active participation of state government.” […]
“Now with the loss of revenue caused by the expiration of the Illinois income tax increase, there will be many difficult roll calls up ahead. And we Democrats are very anxious to work together on those tough roll calls,” Madigan said, turning to his cheering colleagues. “Right, everybody?” […]
Back in the Senate, Radogno admonished Democrats and members of her own Republican Party to listen to each other and not to rely on easy ways to avoid confronting the state’s problems.
“We will only be successful if our knee-jerk response to other people’s ideas is not to fall back in the comfort of partisan rhetoric and run for the cover of special interests,” she said.
* Sun-Times…
[House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie] told the crowd of hundreds in Sangamon Auditorium that the Southwest Side Democrat is fully capable of working with a Republican governor.
“His record shows he works well, even better with the Republican than the Democratic variety,” Currie said. […]
[Speaker Madigan] said the No. 1 issue Illinois will face is the deficit, which he estimated at $5.7 billion for the next budget.
Madigan vowed to protect the working class, even while slashing the budget deficits. And he said the state must focus on education, from early childhood education to higher education.
* SJ-R…
“Governor, we need to raise the minimum wage,” Cullerton said. “The same voters who sent us here want a higher minimum wage in Illinois. It’s time to deliver.” […]
Cullerton pledged to work on streamlining the process for businesses to complete the necessary paperwork to begin operating in Illinois.
And he said it is time for lawmakers to prove their oft-repeated campaign promises that education is a top priority.
“If education is indeed our top priority, it is time to back it up,” he said, citing the funding divide among public schools.
* Erickson…
With Democrats firmly in control of the legislature, Rauner’s presence in the Capitol could be a recipe for Washington-style gridlock or it could represent a new era of bipartisanship at a time when the state is in a financial tailspin.
State Sen. Bill Brady, who had challenged Rauner for the GOP gubernatorial nomination last year, said the political newcomer represents a fresh start in a state battered by bad fiscal news.
“Even the Democrats haven’t been happy with the last 12 years. We all know the failures of Rod Blagojevich. We all know the shortcomings of Pat Quinn. Bruce Rauner brings a new approach,” said Brady, R-Bloomington.
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* Bruce Rushton at the Illinois Times…
A lawyer once at the center of disputes between Attorney General Lisa Madigan and former Gov. Rod Blagojevich is now Gov. Bruce Rauner’s top adviser on environmental issues.
“Oh my God,” exclaimed former assistant attorney general Thomas Davis when told that Robert Alec Messina has been tapped by Rauner to be the governor’s policy adviser on energy and the environment.
As general counsel for the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency under Blagojevich, Messina in 2007 wrote a letter to Madigan’s staff saying that the IEPA would no longer refer cases to the attorney general for enforcement. Criminal enforcement referrals that had already fallen stopped entirely, with no criminal cases being referred from IEPA to the attorney general for at least two years.
Referrals began dropping in 2005, when Madigan launched an investigation into allegations that Blagojevich had been trading jobs for campaign contributions. The rift deepened when Blagojevich cut funding for the attorney general’s office and Madigan responded by threatening to keep fines collected from polluters that otherwise would have gone to fund other agencies. […]
In 2009, eight days before Blagojevich was impeached, Messina wrote a letter to Michael Beyer, chief executive officer of Macoupin Energy, promising that IEPA would work “in a cooperative spirit” with the company to address water pollution at a coal mine near Carlinville that the company wanted to buy from ExxonMobil. Macoupin Energy subsequently bought the mine, which had been idle, and restarted operations under ExxonMobil’s permit, even though the permit wasn’t supposed to be transferable under terms of its initial approval in the 1990s. […]
Macoupin Energy is a subsidiary of Foresight Energy Services, a top donor to Rauner’s inauguration committee that gave between $50,000 and $100,000 to help pay for inaugural festivities. Foresight donated $10,000 to Rauner during the campaign but also gave $48,500 to former Gov. Pat Quinn. […]
“(He’s) extremely, extremely pro-business,” said [Phil Gonet, president of the Illinois Coal Association], who served on Rauner’s transition team. “I couldn’t be happier with his appointment there. I think it is in keeping with what the transition team said was important in improving the business climate in Illinois.”
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A new study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) and the Fiscal Policy Center at Voices for Illinois Children finds that the lowest income Illinoisans pay nearly three times more in taxes as a percent of their income compared to the state’s wealthiest residents.
The study, Who Pays?, analyzes tax systems in all 50 states and factors in all major state and local taxes, including personal and corporate income taxes, property taxes, sales and other excise taxes. Unfortunately, Illinois ranks fifth worst in ITEP’s “Terrible 10” states with the most unfair, or regressive, tax systems. Among Midwestern states, Illinois is the worst.
One positive aspect of Illinois’ tax system is the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit, which lets low- and moderate-income working families keep more of their earnings to help pay for things that help them keep working, such as child care and transportation. To improve tax fairness in Illinois, lawmakers should increase the value of the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit.
“Illinois has the most unfair tax system in the Midwest. As a percentage of their income, the poor pay more, and the rich pay less in taxes here than in any of our neighboring states.” said David Lloyd, director of the Fiscal Policy Center. “That’s what happens when taxes are not based on ability to pay, but rather on a flat rate.”
Illinois’ tax system is regressive, because the lower one’s income, the higher one’s tax rate. This is in part because Illinois, unlike most other states, does not have an income tax where taxpayers with higher incomes pay a higher rate and taxpayers with lower incomes pay a lower rate. Without such a fair income tax, there is nothing to offset the higher share of income that poorer taxpayers pay in sales and property taxes.
How Illinois taxes residents matters for a variety of reasons. In recent years, anti-tax advocates have pushed for tax policies across the country that would reduce tax rates for the wealthy and businesses. In Illinois, the recent income tax cut disproportionately benefits the wealthy, while many of the proposed ideas to partially offset the deep revenue losses would increase taxes on poor and middle-income families.
There’s also a more practical reason for Illinois and all states to be concerned about regressive tax structures, according to ITEP. If the nation fails to address its growing income inequality problem, states will have difficulty raising the revenue they need over time. The more income that goes to the wealthy (and the lower a state’s tax rate on the wealthy), the slower a state’s revenue grows over time.
“In recent years, multiple studies have revealed the growing chasm between the wealthy and everyone else,” said Matt Gardner, executive director of ITEP. “Upside down state tax systems didn’t cause the growing income divide, but they certainly exacerbate the problem. State policymakers shouldn’t wring their hands or ignore the problem. They should thoroughly explore and enact tax reform policies that will make their tax systems fairer.”
They’re obviously referring to the governor’s service tax idea when they talk about proposals that would “increase taxes on poor and middle-income families.”
* The study is here.
From the intro…
This study assesses the fairness of each state’s tax system by measuring state and local taxes paid by non-elderly taxpayers in different income groups in 2015 as shares of income for every state and the District of Columbia. The report provides valuable comparisons among the states, showing which states have done the best — and the worst — job of providing a modicum of fairness in their overall tax systems. The Tax Inequality Index (Appendix B) measures the effects of each state’s tax system on income inequality and is used to rank the states from the most regressive to the least regressive.
The ten most regressive…
* From the Illinois page, this is the percentage impact of state and local sales and excise taxes based on family income…
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* From the governor’s office…
Readout of GOMB Meeting with Agency Chief Financial Officers
SPRINGFIELD – Tim Nuding, director of the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget, led a meeting and conference call with state agency chief financial officers to discuss Executive Order 15-08 addressing the state’s fiscal crisis.
Nuding stressed the dire fiscal condition of the state and the need to eliminate a mid-year budget hole totaling nearly $1.5 billion.
He strongly emphasized the seriousness of the executive order and that agencies must aggressively determine spending that can and will be halted.
He also asked agencies to begin building their reserves as much as possible by retaining money from items like unspent grants wherever applicable.
Nuding made clear that the Administration is preparing to responsibly manage the inherited budget hole without inter-fund borrowing and the governor does not want to push more unpaid bills into next year.
Last, Nuding said that the governor is not afraid to take the arrows and do what it takes so we can get to the point where Illinois doesn’t have fiscal crises year after year.
Those CFOs are Quinn holdovers, so we’ll see how much they cooperate.
The executive order referenced above is here.
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